Well, I don’t know if that’s completely true as I only did the cycling portion of the Des Moines Triathlon as part of a relay. The swim went off without a hitch as Cassie is a fish. 10 minutes after the start time and I was transferring the timing chip to my ankle and wheeling my bike to the mount point. I did fairly well given that this was my first time in any sort of bike competition. Granted, I got passed a lot, but I did have a steady cadence for most of the course. The sprint course was two loops that crossed the railroad tracks a total of four times. I was a little disheartened after I finished the first loop and then had to repeat the loop again. I really don’t like loops of any kind in my races. But I started to pick up some speed as I got more comfortable on my bike and playing with my gears. I was really confident once I was approaching the last pass over the railroad tracks. I was about three miles from the finish. And that was about the time that my back tire decided that it was going to go flat. So off my bike I hopped and started walking. I did talk with one of the course marshals on a motorcycle and he requested for me to be picked up. However, they wouldn’t be able to pick me up until after the race was over. I thought, “Screw that, Megan is waiting for me,” and told him I was walking my bike back. Walking roughly 5k in cycling shoes is not a good idea. My feet were hurting for two days after. However, I did get back to the transition area, where Megan was the only person in the relay waiting area, handed her the timing chip and wished her luck. She knocked out a fast 5k run in 24 minutes in 90 degree heat.

Overall I had fun despite the unfortunate flat tire. My next goal is to learn to patch and fix a flat bike tire and also purchase a repair kit to throw on to my bike. I also told Megan that next year if we do the tri relay again, she’s biking the 20k.